TRIXIE: A Hearth's Warming Eve Carol
by Supa Supa Bad Truly Mad Moves
Summary: Reclusive and antisocial penny-pincher Trixie doesn't care much for Hearth's Warming Eve. A trio of ancient villains appear in her dreams to show her visions of winter celebrations past, present, and future, reminding her of the season's meaning. [AU, retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol]
1. The Day's Visitors

**Disclaimer:** Characters of _My Little Pony_ are the property of Hasbro. _A Christmas Carol_ is the work of Charles Dickens, and I'm gonna come right out and say it, is probably the greatest story of all time.

**TRIXIE**

**A Hearth's Warming Eve Carol**

The idea for this story came to me last year… on the day _after_ Christmas. For that reason, I decided I might as well wait until the _following_ holiday season to post it, giving me almost the entire year to write it and tweak it and make it great. And I'm so glad I did.

**The Day's Visitors**

It was an overcast day in Canterlot. The sky was almost white from the sun's light trying to pierce the thin layer of gloomy gray clouds. The ground was covered in more ice than snow, and what snow was left had gone grayish and was piled up along the sides of the cobblestone streets.

It was the day before Hearth's Warming Eve, and as such, decorations abounded, tinsel hanging from every roof with great colorful orbs hanging down from it. A single building on the street, however, had foregone the festive adornments. It was a counting house, shabby from what appeared to be years of disuse and abandonment, but its business had been consistently active for decades; it was worn down only from neglect and apathy.

In the cold and dark office, Trixie worked behind a desk. She was a middle-aged blue unicorn with a wispy white mane, her face lined with her years. She wore a suit which had once been sleek and black but had grown old and cheaply patched, and her deep frown looked as though it hadn't budged in years.

Trixie worked mindlessly by the light of a single candle, seemingly having no trouble doing so. In a small side room, her clerk was working under the same circumstances, but was clearly struggling to see in the darkness, and shivering in the cold. The young clerk was Twilight Sparkle, a pale purple alicorn, small for the breed, her physique barely different from that of an ordinary pony.

Twilight glanced occasionally at Trixie, at the coal stove in her office, where Trixie's three other employees, a trio of mangy diamond dogs, were gathered as they filed reports and answered letters. Twilight stared longingly at the stove, but decided against attempting to work there herself; there scarcely seemed to be more than one coal burning, and that small increase in warmth would surely not be worth Trixie's reaction.

A tiny bell rang as the door to the counting house opened, and a tall and thin mare bounded in with all the bounce and enthusiasm of a young child. "Hello, Miss Sparkle!" she said brightly. "Merry Hearth's Warming Eve to you!"

Twilight beamed. "To you as well, Miss Cadance."

"And a _very_ merry Hearth's Warming Eve to you, Auntie!" Cadance said to Trixie. "May Celestia bless and watch over you!"

Trixie's niece was a pink alicorn with magnificent purple wings and striking eyes, and in harsh contrast to Trixie herself, wore a broad toothy grin which at the present moment seemed permanently imprinted upon her face. Trixie inspected her face with disdain before scoffing, "Pfft. What a load of hooey."

Cadance's smile faltered. "'Hooey'? You're calling Hearth's Warming Eve a load of hooey?"

"Well, yes," said Trixie. "What reason do _you_ have for celebrating the holy time of Celestia? What's she ever done for you? You're poorer and no better off than you ever were."

Cadance leaned across Trixie's desk. "And what reason do _you_ have for denying her? You've built yourself a grand fortune from absolutely nothing. You should be thanking Celestia for her blessings."

"I did that by _myself_," Trixie retorted. "Celestia played no part. If she were to get up off her divine keister sometime and actually give a hoof in aid to somepony, I might believe there's something to this whole 'may Celestia bless and watch over you' business, but as long as she remains far away and beyond the reach of mortal perception, I say you are spouting nothing but hooey!"

"But Auntie, that's what Hearth's Warming Eve is all about," Cadance said in a pained voice. "For remembering the time when Celestia _did_ walk among us, all the things she did to save us, and holding faith that she watches over us still."

"And is _that_ how you choose to thank her?" Trixie sneered. "By succumbing to sin, taking a day off of work for sloth and gluttony, making frivolous purchases of gifts that punch your finances in the gut? Finding yourself, at the end of the year, a year older, fatter, uglier, and having to do the whole thing over again? How much of a fool a pony must be to go about saying 'Merry Hearth's Warming Eve', and it would seem we live in a whole _world_ full of such fools!" She glared at Cadance. "And the scariest part is that sometimes I think they truly mean it. I'd like to see them all skewered."

"Auntie…" Cadance pleaded.

"Cease your whining, niece," Trixie spat. "Let's forego these meaningless and futile entanglements. You celebrate Hearth's Warming Eve your way, I'll do it my way."

"Your way?" Cadance said skeptically. "Your way, meaning not celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve at all."

Trixie seethed. "Yes. Was that not clear?"

Cadance narrowed her eyes, and placed both of her front hooves on Trixie's desk, to tower over her aunt. "There are better things a pony may gain than _profit_, dear aunt," she said forcefully. "Yes, I have never gained a penny from Hearth's Warming Eve, but every year, it never fails to make me a richer pony. It's the time of year when all creatures under the sun and the moon seem to come together in friendship and harmony, where no pony stands above another, where we remember that we are _all_ the children of this earth. Hearth's Warming Eve has enriched me in my soul, Auntie, and I know beyond a doubt that it will continue doing so for many years to come, and it can do the same for you if you would but open your heart to its kindness and love!"

Twilight sat up in her chair and tapped her front hooves together in applause. Trixie's head snapped toward her with a ferocious glare. Terrified, Twilight hastily puffed out the candle on her desk, extinguishing its light and leaving the small side room pitch dark, so that Trixie could not see her anymore.

"A charming speech," Trixie said coldly to Cadance. "You should have been a politician."

Cadance rolled her eyes, then sighed and looked to the floor. "Auntie… I came here to ask you to dine with me tomorrow," she said tenderly. "You and I are the only family we have left in the world, all I wish is for us to be friends. My husband has invited his entire extended family to the grandest feast we could manage this Hearth's Warming Eve, and it would honor us all to see you there… your absence would be a void in the family."

"This husband of yours," said Trixie. "Tell me, when he courted you, what did he promise? He had no means with which to provide for you, his wealth and well-being could scarcely serve to better your way of life at all. So why marry such a stallion?"

"I love him, Auntie," Cadance said promptly. "I married him because I love him."

Trixie looked incensed. "Burn. In. Hell," she enunciated.

Tears filled Cadance's eyes. "Auntie…" she peeped. "You… you make me sad. Truly, you do. But I cannot say I didn't try. I came to wish you a merry Hearth's Warming Eve, and I _still_ wish that upon you. Merry Hearth's Warming Eve to you, Aunt Trixie."

"Get out," Trixie growled.

"May Celestia bless and watch over you!" she said, more forcefully.

"Out!"

"AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Cadance bellowed.

"GO AWAY!" Trixie roared back.

Cadance nodded, and turned to the three diamond dogs gathered at the furnace. "Good day to you, gentlemen," she said. They smiled weakly and nodded to her, and she started for the door. "Nice to see you again, Miss Sparkle," she called to the darkness in the other room.

"You as well," Twilight said softly. "May Celestia bless and watch over you."

"Oh, she does, my dear lady," Cadance said sweetly. "She does. May she do the same for you."

"Oh, sure, Celestia watch over Twilight Sparkle," Trixie muttered to herself. "The pony who must try to support her husband and children on fifteen bits a week, yes, _very_ blessed, that one. Idiocy…"

Cadance opened the door, to find two other ponies standing there who had been about to knock.

"Hello!" she crowed in an overdramatic, almost insane fashion. "Well met, dear ladies! MERRY HEARTH'S WARMING EEEEEEVE!" She slipped in between them and off into the streets, dancing and prancing as she did so.

The two well-dressed ponies entered the counting house, staring in amused confusion over their shoulders at the retreating figure of Cadance. One was a white unicorn with an elegantly styled mane, the other a yellow pegasus who carried herself in a delicate posture, almost as if she might break at the slightest sudden movement.

"Pardon me, ma'am," said the unicorn. "Would this be the office of Miss Gilda and Miss Trixie?"

"It is," Trixie replied.

"Ah, good. And who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"Miss Gilda has been dead seven years," Trixie said emotionlessly. "She died seven years ago this very night."

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that," the unicorn said sympathetically. "Miss Trixie, then?"

Trixie glared but didn't answer.

"Lovely!" said the unicorn, undeterred. "I am Rarity, and this is my friend and business partner Fluttershy. We are here collecting donations for charity."

Trixie raised an eyebrow at Fluttershy, who had begun to slouch and shiver in discomfort from the first moment Trixie had spoken.

"In the Hearth's Warming Eve season," Rarity continued, "as we all know, the fire of friendship keeps us all warm, but for the poor and homeless, who have no hearth to warm themselves by, they depend on the harmony between ponies more than any other. Thousands are depending on the kindness and generosity of their fellow ponies… to give them the necessities and common comforts that are everypony's divinely-granted right."

Trixie tapped her quill against her teeth. "Necessities," she repeated thoughtfully. "Common comforts. And what might those be?"

"A steady source of food and drink," Fluttershy supplied. "A real bed in which to sleep at night. Shelter and warmth against the chill of this otherwise joyful season."

"A donation of a mere five bits will put a roof over a pony's head and food on their table," said Rarity, producing a quill and parchment. "So how many shall _you_ aid, my dear Miss Trixie? What shall I put you down for?"

Trixie leaned back in her chair. "Nothing," she said. "Not a damn thing, Miss Rarity. There is no need. The poor always eventually end up where they belong—prisons and workhouses. They'll find plenty of food and shelter there. My tax bits pay for _those_ institutions, so I see no need to shill out _more_ of my blood, sweat, and tears to allow idle folk to gorge themselves on food and drink they didn't earn."

Rarity stepped back in surprise, and briefly leaned in to consult with Fluttershy. "This one may be a tough sell," she muttered.

"Should we do the musical number?" Fluttershy whispered back.

Trixie's eyes burned with fury, and Fluttershy cowered in sheer terror. "Okay, I'm sorry!" she squeaked. "I'm sorry… no musical number…"

"The truth of the matter, Miss Trixie," said Rarity, "is that there are too many poor folks for all of them to find solace in such places, and… and to be frank… many would rather die."

Trixie sneered. "Good. Let them die then."

Fluttershy gasped, covering her mouth with her wings.

"There are too many ponies in Canterlot these days, don't you think?" Trixie said sweetly. "I've often thought some thinning of the herds was in order. Now, are you going to continue shoving your business into my face, or shall I get back to mine?"

Rarity and Fluttershy glanced at each other sadly, and withdrew without a word, the bell on Trixie's door ringing as they opened and closed it.

Trixie noticed that the three diamond dogs' eyes were darting between the single coal burning in the stove and the sack of extra coals in the corner of the room.

"Don't you _dare_ put another coal on that fire," she said sternly. "Don't—don't do it. No. Noooo."

The trio relented and returned to their work.

A few seconds later, Trixie lifted her head and glared at the door. There was a very distinct sound coming from outside, something she did not like. She stormed forward and tugged the door open, glaring at the five carolers who were standing on the street corner just outside her place of work.

_The fire of friendship lives in our hearts  
>As long as it burns, we will not drift apart<br>Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few  
>Laughter and singing will see us through<br>Will see us—_

Trixie's horn glowed with pale pink energy, and she flung her head toward the carolers, creating an explosion of fireworks in their midst. A tiny mushroom cloud sprang up, and when it cleared, the dumbfounded carolers were covered in ash. They slowly turned their heads toward Trixie and, mumbling softly to each other, slowly shambled away.

"Hoo?"

Trixie looked up, and saw a small brown owl sitting atop the peeling _Gilda and Trixie_ sign above the door. It looked back down at her, and a single glance at her death-threatening glare was all it took for it to the owl to take to the skies in a panic.

"Hmph!" Trixie growled, closing the door and returning to her desk. "It's the same every year, Hearth's Warming Eve constantly assaulting the senses, there just isn't ever a single second of respite—_oh what fresh hell is this?_" she demanded as her door, for the third time that afternoon, was opened from the outside.

A tiny unicorn filly with blond hair and a coat of pale pastel purple hobbled into the counting-house. Her right hind leg was in a brace, and the front leg on the same side was withered and weak, curled up atop a crutch. Her big, pale yellow eyes looked up at Trixie with cheer and innocence.

"Can I help you?" Trixie sneered.

"I'm Dinky Doo," the filly squeaked. "I'm looking for my mother?"

"Dinky, sweetheart," said Twilight, rushing out of her small workspace and bending down to embrace the small filly. "What are you doing here? I told you I'd be working late tonight."

"But it's the day before Hearth's Warming Eve," Dinky pleaded. "We need you home, Momma. Won't Miss Trixie let you come home early?"

Twilight bit her lip and cautiously turned toward Trixie, who set down her quill and sighed. "So, just so we're clear," she grumbled, "you want to leave early tonight… _and_ get the whole day off tomorrow?"

"If… if that's all right," Twilight said nervously.

"I hardly think that's fair," Trixie snipped. "If I didn't give you Hearth's Warming Eve off, you'd say you were being put out. But having to pay you a full week's wages when you earned only a portion of them, doesn't anypony consider that that puts _me _out?"

Dinky coughed harshly, and Twilight glanced at her in concern. "It's just once a year, Miss Trixie," Twilight implored.

"Oh, I only get robbed _once a year_, that's some comfort," Trixie retorted. "But fine… go. You'd better be here as early as all hell the morning _after_ Hearth's Warming Eve."

"I will, Miss Trixie," Twilight promised. "Thank you so much, Miss Trixie!"

She lifted Dinky onto her back, wrapping a blanket around the little filly's shoulders, and rushed out the door, happily galloping off into the snow as Dinky laughed giddily.

"Feh," Trixie said in disgust, turning to the three diamond dogs. "Well, I've had enough of this nonsense. I'll be leaving early as well. I'm putting it to you three to lock up when your work is finished; if there's a single paper out of place when I return tomorrow, it will be on your heads."

They nodded fearfully as Trixie fetched her jacket and silk hat and stiffly marched out into the street.


	2. Tale of the Phantasm

**Tale of the Phantasm**

Trixie trudged through the snow, bracing herself against the cold, inefficiently protected by her cheap and worn-out clothing, her coat being blown back by the wind.

Her destination was a decayed old house, all of its color gone, now peeling and gray. She opened the front gate, a spiky padlocked door of black iron, with her magic, and slowly and carefully made her way up the rocky garden path. The garden in question was just as neglected as the house, and was overgrown all over the house and the path, the trees so thick that they turned the cloudy late afternoon into night.

Going up the stairs to her front door, Trixie crossed paths with her housekeeper, Zecora. Her striped coat and frilly uniform were all in shades of gray, which fit well with the dreary appearance of the house, though Zecora herself was refined and clean, while the house was in disrepair beyond all hope.

"Good evening, Miss Trixie," said Zecora. "I'm finished for tonight. Now I shall return home, if that's quite all right."

Trixie rolled her eyes at the maid's tendency to speak in verse. "Yes, Zecora. I'll be seeing you in the morning, at the crack of dawn as always, don't you _dare_ expect any concessions due to it being Hearth's Warming Eve. Not a thing changes."

"And on that friendly note, I'll take my leave," Zecora said dryly. "To you, a merry…" She stopped as Trixie glared at her. "Never mind then," she muttered, passing Trixie and softly padding down the path.

Trixie sighed and turned toward her front door, readying her horn to open it. She glanced absently at her door knocker and froze in fear.

What once had been a plain and unadorned wooden knocker now displayed a sleeping, eagle-like face.

"Gilda?" Trixie gasped.

Gilda's face was glowing an eerie white-blue, and was translucent. The feathers that made up her bangs were flowing as if she was underwater. As Trixie stared in bewilderment at this impossible phenomenon, the apparition opened its eyes and glared at her harshly.

Trixie exclaimed and jumped backward in terror. She averted her eyes for a split second, and when she looked back at the knocker it was its normal self again.

"Erm, Zecora?" Trixie called.

Zecora turned around. "Yes, Miss Trixie?"

"Do you… notice anything strange about this door knocker?"

The maid frowned deeply and inspected the door. "Naught but the usual wood and stone," she replied. "Will that be all? Can I go home?"

"…Yes," Trixie said slowly, not daring to take her eyes off the door. "Yes, of course."

Trixie stared for a long time, faintly aware of Zecora leaving the premises. It was a heavy minute before she finally applied her magic to the door, opening it.

She stepped inside her home's spacious entry room. Just ahead of her was the massively broad flight of stairs leading up to her bedroom, but she only saw it for a second before she closed the door behind herself, leaving the room in pitch darkness.

Before her eyes adjusted, Trixie could have sworn that she saw a huge black hearse at the top of the stairs, pulled by six gray pegasus stallions with bat wings and yellow cat eyes. The sinister pegasi galloped down the stairs and rushed at Trixie, passing her on either side. Trixie, frozen in fear and bewilderment, flinched lightly as the hearse seemed about to collide with her.

But the great black carriage passed right through her, and she felt nothing more than a chill wind, and was left blind once again. It was a few more seconds before she was able to actually see in the darkness.

"Must have had some bad parsley at lunch," Trixie said shakily to herself. She started up the stairs, not bothering to pick up a candle or even light the tip of her horn, making her way through the house in darkness as she always did, trying to assure herself that all was as normal.

~0~0~0~

Several hours later, long after the city outside had gone still and silent, Trixie closed her bedroom door and locked it tightly, now dressed in her pale blue nightgown and cap. She stood in front of the fireplace and used her magic to light a pale pink fire, the flames tiny and low, barely illuminating anything, and then sat down in one of the large chairs near the fireplace and started eating a bowl of cold porridge.

Her fireplace was carved with illustrations of scenes from tales of the holy scriptures. Princess Celestia and her sister turning an armored unicorn king into shadow; another of the two of them attacking a serpentine creature seemingly mashed together from parts of different animals, freezing it in stone. Across the top, Celestia's foe was the sister herself, armored and with sinister-looking eyes, and Celestia was sealing her within the moon.

"Hooey," Trixie said to herself. "All of it, just a load of hooey…"

She took a bite of her porridge and choked on it in alarm as a doorbell rang out of nowhere. The ring was deafening, and seemed to shake the walls and floors with its resonance. It was only as that single chilling note started fading away that Trixie remembered she didn't even _have_ a doorbell.

She barely had an instant to comprehend this before she heard her front door swing open violently with a loud _bang_. Following this were heavy and slow footsteps, accompanied by the jangling of heavy bits of metal, and something immense scraping along the ground.

Trixie was absolutely frozen in fear for the almost full minute it took for these sounds to make their way up the stairs and down the hallway to her bedroom. When her door slowly unlocked from the outside, she dropped her bowl of porridge and shrank into her chair, as if trying to blend in with it.

The doorknob turned, and Trixie's little pink fire fizzled out. As the door burst open, the fire flared back to life, a roaring flame of eerie blue-white, and a similarly glowing figure stood in the doorway.

It was a large and tall creature, hunched over and dressed in a heavy white cloak, a hood pulled down low over its face. It was floating a few inches off the ground, but its large wings were chained to its body. Out of its huge billowing sleeves came a pair of talons, each grasping yet another chain.

Trixie's eyes were drawn to the chains, which wrapped around the apparition's arms, legs, and torso. They dragged along the ground far, far behind the mysterious figure. The length of the chains were comprised not only of links but also of padlocks and keys, heavy locked boxes and metal purses.

The thing and its chains were transparent, the walls and floors visible behind it. It hovered there in place, its shrouded head seeming to stare directly and intensely at Trixie, who was curled up and quivering in fear.

"Trixie," said the specter.

"Y-yes?" Trixie replied in a squeaky voice.

"I've been wanting to speak with you for a long, long time," the specter said emotionlessly.

"You have?" Trixie peeped. "…Do we know each other?"

"Trixie… it's me, Gilda."

The ghost lifted its talons and lowered its hood. There was Gilda's face, just as it had appeared on Trixie's knocker. She was thinner than she had been in life, her eyes sunken, her face lined deeply.

"Ah," Trixie said stiffly. "So it is."

Gilda grinned wryly. "So, gonna offer your old business partner a seat?"

"Oh. Um… yes, by all means. Have a seat." She nodded to her other chair.

The ghostly form of Gilda gently sank to the ground on all fours, and slowly walked across the room, pulling the huge length of chain along behind her. She stood in front of the fireplace, gathering up as much of the chain as she could into a single clump, then floated back up into the air and settled down in the chair opposite Trixie's.

"So… how have you been?" Trixie said nervously.

"Oh… sucky," Gilda said dispassionately. "Been on the move, nonstop."

"Travelling, the past seven years?"

"Yeah, seeing the world," Gilda said bitterly. "Seeing _everything_… travelling with the winds, never getting to sit still, just having to watch everything. Constantly on the move—not easy to do with all these chains on me, let me tell you."

"…Huh," said Trixie. "How about that?"

Gilda smiled. "You're trying to convince yourself that you're dreaming, aren't you?"

"I'm obviously dreaming," Trixie said firmly. "This isn't possible. I've had a fever as of late, and obviously it's giving me bad dreams. I just have to wait out this dreadful nightmare until it's over."

Gilda grinned deviously. "You're gonna be waiting a while for that, Trixie."

Trixie shivered.

"Yeah, I chill you to the bone, don't I?" Gilda taunted. "Just my presence, it shakes you down to your very soul. You think your mind could make up that feeling?" She leaned toward Trixie. "This is the real deal, partner," she said gravely. She grabbed clawfuls of her chains, rattling and jangling them loudly, staring at Trixie all the while with an eerily focused, unblinking stare.

"What are you doing?" Trixie said in alarm, her voice rising to a high pitch. "_Why have you come here?_ Why are you bursting in and walking around in my house seven years after you died, Gilda?"

Gilda stared at her chains introspectively, rolling two links between her fingers. "The soul…" she said slowly, "is a social creature. The soul has the need to go out and be among its fellow souls. To learn… and grow… and share and turn to happiness…" She sighed. "And if the soul doesn't do that during life… it's condemned to get it done for all time after death. To walk among the souls of the earth, see all their pinpoints of light, to witness what it might have known… but is doomed not to know." She dropped her face into her talons.

"…And the chains?" Trixie said cautiously.

Gilda lifted her head and smirked wickedly at Trixie. "What, this old thing? I forged this chain myself." She started pulling it, displaying one link at a time, occasionally showing off a lockbox or a ring of keys. "For every act of lameness, another link, forged and girded, for me to carry. Every soul bears a chain… you know, seven years ago, the day I died, your chain was just as long and heavy as this one right here. You've kept working on it ever since…" Her menacing grin became broader and more sinister by the second. "Just _imagine_. Imagine the weight your soul is carrying right now. Oh, that is something to think about…"

Trixie shivered. "Gilda… please don't say such unsettling things. I thought you were my friend."

Gilda held a talon over her head, swinging a short length of chain in a circle. She flung the ghostly chain at Trixie, and it wrapped around the unicorn's neck, for Gilda to pull her closer.

"I _am_ your friend," Gilda said coldly. "That's why I'm here. I don't know how or why I'm finally able to visit you in a shape you can understand, to speak with you and touch you… but I can. At last, I can pass along my warning."

"Warning?" Trixie whispered.

The ghost started floating up to the ceiling, her endless chain dangling beneath. "All our time together, it was said that you and I were kindred spirits. Why don't you take a look at _my_ spirit and think about what that means for _yours_." She spread her arms, quivering with the weight and exhaustion, and sent Trixie a piercing glare.

"I… I just…" Trixie stammered, almost choking on the chain. "Surely you haven't come here from the grave… just to tell me I'm doomed just like you? Can't you offer me some reassurance?"

Gilda blinked slowly. "Oh, I would… I would. But there's nothing I can say. Nothing… nothing." She stared off into space. "Nothing."

After a few more seconds of contemplation, she swooped down on Trixie and lifted her up by the chains around her throat.

"Do you realize how much I missed?" Gilda wailed, her chains rattling as she shook Trixie back and forth. "Do you have any idea how great and awesome the world is, and all its people? I never did! I never stepped outside our counting house! And now I've passed into eternity and I have to _watch_ everything I didn't get to see when I was alive. I can see it, but it's not mine! I can't have it! Because I wasted my life, squelched it away, and now it's gone. It's all gone." She dropped Trixie back into the chair, and Trixie spluttered as the chain tightened around her.

"But… you didn't waste your life," Trixie protested. "You were so good at business and economics. You built yourself a fortune out of nothing. That's not a waste!"

Gilda snorted and started laughing, sinking back into her seat.

"What?" Trixie demanded in horror.

"You talking about me, or about _you_?" Gilda chuckled.

Trixie slouched nervously and didn't answer. Gilda yanked on the chain still attached to Trixie, and Trixie braced herself in preparation for another hard tug on her throat, but instead the chain magically unwrapped itself and fell to the ground along with all the rest of Gilda's burden.

"Business," Gilda scoffed. "Business doesn't heal the heart of its scars, or bond the heart to that of other creatures. What I did with my career… that was no kind of life. Didn't amount to anything at all against the life I could have had." She sighed, and flung some of the chains over her shoulder absently. "Why did I do it, Trixie? Why did I spend all the time in my precious life with my eyes only on my paperwork and my mind only on the next two bits I could rub together? If I'd just looked out the window once, and seen the wide world around me, I… things might have been different."

Trixie was silent, and eyed the spirit with increasing unease. Eventually, she got up out of her seat and approached Gilda, lifting a hoof to offer a comforting touch.

Before she could, Gilda's talon shot out and gripped her forearm tightly. Trixie cried out in pain at the alarming pressure as the ghostly griffon's claw squeezed her harder and harder.

"My time here is almost over," Gilda said, in the same blank, emotionless voice as when she had first entered. "Listen to me carefully. I will tell you how you might escape what has happened to me."

"You told me—agh!—you told me there was no reassurance you could offer," said Trixie.

"And there isn't. Words are cheap. They won't change anything. But I've arranged for something that might speak to you more strongly."

Trixie sobbed, partly out of emotion but mostly from the pain. "That you would go to all this trouble to save me… I thank you. Tell me what I must do!"

Gilda let go of Trixie and started floating in a circle around her. "First comes the part where an old friend visits and warns you about the torment that lies across the veil," said the ghost. "Actually, that's the part we're doing right now, so we're a bit ahead of schedule."

"Yes," said Trixie, rubbing her pained forearm with her other hoof. "Go on."

"After that… comes the haunting."

Trixie froze. "…Isn't that _also_ the part we're doing right now?"

"Who, me?" Gilda chuckled. "No… no. Me, I'm just a ghost. You will be haunted by an ancient spirit, something powerful and incomprehensible, who will start you on your journey. When that's done, a second spirit will come. Then a third."

Trixie gulped. "And… when should I expect them?"

"Oh, they'll be coming to you whenever they damn well want to," Gilda whispered smugly in Trixie's ear. "These are eldritch creatures who answer to nopony."

"I… I can't, Gilda," Trixie said shakily. "Just being haunted by _you_ is nearly killing me. And what you're talking about sounds like something mortals were not meant to know. I won't be able to handle this."

"It's the only way to change your path," Gilda deadpanned.

Trixie shook her head. "It's not worth it."

"It is, and the arrangements have already been made, so suck it up."

Trixie glared. "I… no. I refuse." Her horn lit up, and she shot a burst of fireworks at the specter.

The explosion blinded Trixie, and when it cleared, Gilda's ghost was looking, in mild surprise, at a huge hole blown through her chest. As Trixie watched in horror, the hole mended itself, and Gilda was whole again, and looking up at Trixie with another malicious smirk.

"Oh, Trixie…" Gilda said in amusement. "Why would you do such a thing? You just had to make this happen the hard way, didn't you? Let me show you how that goes."

Trixie's eyes widened as Gilda lunged at her, the ghost's body colliding with hers and sending them both crashing through the window, flying far through the air and tumbling into the streets along with a mess of shattered glass.

Trixie moaned weakly in pain, laying on her side on the cobblestones. Though dazed and almost losing consciousness, she was quickly sobered by a sound like a whirling blade. Gilda was floating over her, starting to once again spin her chain around and around over her head.

"No, no, no…" Trixie said frantically.

Gilda swung her chain at Trixie, who rolled out of the way; the chain left scuff marks in the street. Trixie stood up and ran, but the ghost pursued, wielding a length of chain in each hand, slashing at Trixie again and again. Trixie looked over her shoulder and shot a powerful blast of magical energy as she ran, which singed the specter down to the bone, but new skin and feathers quickly grew back over her grisly exposed skull.

Trixie rounded a corner at the end of the block before Gilda managed to hook a chain around one of her hind hooves. With a tug of the chain, Trixie was flat on her belly. She flipped herself over just in time to see Gilda grab her and deliver a two-footed kick to her chest, sending her flying in an arc before landing hard face-down in the streets.

Gilda glided over to Trixie and pulled her up by the chin, forcing her to look out at the streets. "Are you seeing this?" she whispered. "Trixie, do you see what I see?"

Trixie gasped. The streets were teeming with ghosts, the ghosts of all sorts of creatures, wandering back and forth, wailing and moaning in agonized sorrow. All glowed blue just like Gilda, all were shrouded in white cloaks, and all bore heavy burdens.

A stern-faced earth pony stallion with thick eyebrows and a stubbly beard bore a gold ring around his neck, and dragged along a chain of other rings, each one a different size. He walked along at a slow pace, looking resigned and tired. A tall and graceful unicorn stallion was covered in roses, their thorns digging into his flesh, and smothered in what appeared to be hot cake frosting. This ghost spun through the air, shrieking in panic as he continually tried in vain to shake off the thorns and the sticky goo.

Trixie took particular note of one ghost. "Is that Suri?" she exclaimed in surprise.

In the direction Trixie was looking so intently, a homeless mare dressed in rags and tatters sat on the curb, holding an infant foal in equally-ratty swaddling clothes. These were the only flesh-and-blood beings on the street besides Trixie herself, and the mare was staring at Trixie with a bewildered expression. She clearly had no perception of any of the ghosts, including the one who was circling her frantically, trying to catch her attention—the ghost Trixie had recognized.

"Why can't I help you?" wailed the ghost, a mare restrained by a straitjacket made of a dazzling purple fabric. "I know I did wrong before, but I just want to make you feel better, mkay? Please notice me and let me ease your suffering!"

Trixie frowned deeply and looked up. "Gilda, what is…?" She cried out in surprise as she realized Gilda was rising far off into the sky.

"The time has come for me to move on!" Gilda called to her. "Your visit from the three spirits has already been set in motion. This is for your own good, Trixie. It's your one and only last chance. Don't blow this for yourself!"

"Gilda!" Trixie cried, but the ghostly griffon had already disappeared among the other tortured souls and the stars above.

Trixie stood alone, shivering in the cold winter's night in just her nightgown, a cold that seemed heightened by the dozens and dozens of spirits sailing all around. One spirit in particular, when it rounded the corner, made her blood run even colder. It was a massive sea serpent with a voluminous hairstyle and mustache, wrapped in anchors and wrecking balls.

"Oh, what a world!" the ghost sobbed. "What a world!"

Clutching his heart, the serpent spun and thrashed, hurling his body to the ground, and Trixie screamed and squeezed her eyes shut as she realized the gargantuan monster was going to crush her beneath its coils.

Nothing happened, and all the wailing and moaning suddenly went silent. Trixie opened her eyes, and found that she was completely alone in the dark and quiet streets. Even the mare with the baby had disappeared from the curb.

The absolute silence stung Trixie's ears as much as the freezing air did. There wasn't even the sound of wind. As Trixie looked around in confusion, trying to make sense of _something_, she happened to glance up at the full moon. The crater formation on the moon's surface, shaped vaguely like a unicorn's head… simply vanished, leaving the moon an orb of pure white. Trixie stepped backward, dumbfounded.

She was so transfixed on the moon, easily the most confusing thing she had seen this night, that she didn't notice the cloud of eerie purple smoke rising behind her back. The smoke solidified into a towering black alicorn with sharp-edged wings, clad in periwinkle armor. Her mane and tail consisted of the flowing purple smoke, and as she opened her purple-rimmed eyes, her pupils narrowed into catlike slits.

Slowly and silently, this frightening creature stepped up to Trixie, her fanged mouth coming up to Trixie's ear. "What has captured your attention so fully?" she whispered.

Trixie shrieked and whirled around, her jaw going slack and her neck craning up to look at the huge and otherworldly mare.

"Eyeing the moon, are we?" she said casually. "I can understand that…" The stranger grinned. "After all these centuries it still looks good."

"Are you…" Trixie began, unable to believe the words she was saying. "You're Nightmare Moon."

"Am I?" she said in genuine surprise. She examined herself. "Oh… yes, I suppose I am. I've been dormant and imprisoned for so long… I had almost forgotten…"

"…Are you here to bring about eternal night?" Trixie said in horror.

Nightmare Moon smirked. "No… no, not _this_ night. This night I'm here for _you_, poor doomed Trixie."

"_You_ are the spirit who was to visit me?" Trixie said slowly.

"Indeed," said Nightmare Moon. "This evening I am to guide you through Hearth's Warming Eves of the past."

"The past?" Trixie muttered. "You mean… the distant past, when the holiday was born?"

"No," said Nightmare Moon. "_Your_ past."

Trixie recoiled, her eyes wide in horror, much to Nightmare Moon's amusement.

"Take my hoof," said the ancient spirit, holding it out to Trixie.

"I… I don't know if I want…" Trixie muttered.

"You'll take my hoof, and you'll see what I was called to show you," Nightmare Moon commanded. "Do it now."

Trixie slowly and shakily reached up, placing her hoof atop that of the enormous alicorn.

The moment she did, the light and the air seemed to bend together, forming a tunnel of space and energy which sucked Trixie and the spirit through some interminable distance, passing through miles and days in the blink of an eye.


	3. Shadows at Dawn

**Shadows at Dawn**

Nightmare Moon led the nightgown-clad Trixie down a snowy dirt road lined with tall pines, soft snowflakes falling all around them.

"Wasn't it the middle of the night a second ago?" Trixie said in concern, peering up at the daylight.

"You are seeing this road as it was many years ago," the spirit replied. "You do know this road, I take it?"

"Know it?" Trixie marveled. "I know it better than I know the details of my own face."

"Is that so? And yet, this is the first time in many years that your thoughts have drifted to this place, is it not?"

"I… that is correct…" Trixie muttered, slowing her pace.

Nightmare Moon tilted her head and peered at Trixie with interest. "Truly? Are you crying _already_?"

"No," Trixie said firmly, brushing a tear away from her lined and aged face. "I… I'm not." She paused for a moment, then snapped her head up toward Nightmare Moon in alarm. "What do you mean 'already'?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, nothing at all," she said hastily. "Let us proceed."

Trixie followed, but paused. "Erm… won't the ponies in the village notice when Nightmare Moon comes casually walking down the road?"

"These are scenes from the past," Nightmare Moon replied calmly. "We have no power to alter them. We will not be seen. Keep up with me, won't you?"

Trixie quickened her pace to catch up to the dark mare. They walked over a hill, and came upon a quaint little village, the sight of which made Trixie's heart clench up, her freezing-cold eyes well up with steaming tears.

They walked down the main street, indeed unnoticed by everyone they came across. A freckled yellow earth pony with lime-green eyes and hair hopped along the sidewalks in a zig-zagging pattern. She stopped at a cart carrying multicolored, crystalline apples.

"Closing up shop for the day?" she chirped.

"Eeyup," said the huge red stallion behind the cart.

"One for the road?" she asked him flirtatiously, flipping him a coin.

He smiled and gave her a single apple.

"Aw, ain't you just a peach?" said the mare, winking at him. "Merry Hearth's Warming Eve, my good man."

She hopped away, nearly going into neck spasms when she saw a golden pegasus flying overhead, dressed in olive green and khaki, and carrying loads of travelling gear.

"Setting off on vacation, Miss Do?" the cheerful mare called out.

The pegasus halted in midair and turned to face her. "That's right. Merry Hearth's Warming Eve, Ms. Peachbottom. I'll see you when I get back."

"I look forward to it. Merry Hearth's Warming Eve."

"Ugh, it's _constant_, isn't it?" Trixie said bitterly. "Everywhere you go, it's 'Merry Hearth's Warming Eve', nonstop…"

As they continued down the street, a huge, sharp-toothed, monkey-like creature tipped his hat to a very tall and slender unicorn stallion with light brown fur, who was bundled up tightly in many layers of warm clothing.

"Perfect Hearth's Warming Eve, is it not?" the creature boomed in a thick accent. "A nice soft snowfall."

"Oh, indeed," said the stallion. "A lovely change from the weather we've been getting. The past few weeks, the wind has been whipping me like a rented mule." He turned his head to the mule who was standing nearby in the streets. "No offense."

"None taken," the mule drawled.

The huge hairy beast laughed. "Merry Hearth's Warming Eve to you, Mr. Trenderhoof."

"Yes, and also to you," said the unicorn, bowing.

Trixie scarcely paid attention to the scene unfolding, her eyes forward, waiting for it to come into view.

And it did. On the other end of the tiny village was a dock, set at the edge of a great lake, and on the other side of the lake was a massive stone castle.

"My old school," Trixie said in delight. "There she stands, as grand as ever." She frowned and looked over her shoulder. "I knew every one of those townsfolk. If this is the past, then that castle must be filled with…"

Nightmare Moon nodded. "Let us see." The coils of her mane wrapped around one of Trixie's legs, and she flew across the lake at a breakneck speed, carrying Trixie along with her.

Trixie shut her eyes tight as wind whipped at her face, and she peered out just in time to see that she and Nightmare Moon had just passed neatly through a closed window and were now in a school corridor.

Trixie adjusted her nightcap and stared in surprise at the frosty glass of the window. "Remarkable," she muttered.

A loud bell rang out, and several classroom doors opened. Nightmare Moon touched Trixie's face and directed her attention to one door in particular. An attractive young teacher stepped out, holding the door open for her students. "All right, my little ponies. Have fun with your families and I'll see you all after the break."

Fillies and colts in school uniforms started filing out, and Trixie held her breath, realizing what was coming. Sure enough, trailing behind her classmates, came Trixie's younger self. The little blue filly had a vacant and glum expression, dragging her hooves slightly.

"There you are," Trixie said sadly. "Why so morose, little one?"

A classmate came up alongside the young Trixie, a filly with a huge pink bow in her mane. "Howdy, Trixie," she said. "Stayin' here at school for the holiday again?"

"Yes," the young Trixie peeped, looking to the floor guiltily.

"Aw, I'm sorry," her friend said with a sympathetic pout. "I'm sure you'll get to be with your family soon."

Trixie sighed and kicked at the ground. "Oh, I don't know, Apple Bloom, I don't think they're ever going to want—"

Apple Bloom squealed in delight at the sight of two other fillies coming out of another room, and ran toward them. These three fillies pranced around each other, chattering eagerly.

"Apple Bloom!" said one, flapping her tiny wings in excitement. "You ready to go back to our hometown?"

"Yeah, I'm ready!" said Apple Bloom. "We'll spend time with our families and get all kinds of new chances to try and get our cutie marks!"

"Ooh, the boats are here!" a little white unicorn squeaked. The three fillies scampered down the hall, as did many others, leaving the young Trixie alone and seeming very small in the huge corridors.

Trixie stepped forward and looked into the eyes of her childhood self, who stared straight through her, unaware. "Why so sad?" the present-day Trixie said gently. "You get your dorm room to yourself, and get to spend your days reading. You have all the friends and all the worlds you need there in the books. You're happy, aren't you? I know you are."

The young Trixie wandered off, and Nightmare Moon beheld the other with interest. "Do you talk to yourself often?" she asked.

"Well, how often do I get to look myself in the face?" Trixie said with a wry smile, which quickly vanished and gave way to a very deep frown as she watched her past self vanish around a corner. "It seems my school days weren't quite the adventure I remembered."

"Perhaps not," Nightmare Moon agreed. "Let us see another Hearth's Warming Eve here at this school."

The air rippled around them, and dissolved into a new scene. Trixie and Nightmare Moon were now standing in a dormitory common room, decorated with gold and red banners. The young Trixie was sitting in a large chair by the fireplace, reading a book. Trixie was unsurprised, until she took another look and realized that the filly in the chair was a few years older than the one she had seen a few seconds ago.

"Oh my," she breathed.

An older Apple Bloom came down the stairs, bundled up for winter and carrying a suitcase. "Hey, Trixie," she said casually. She paused, and noticed a large black case next to Trixie's chair. Her eyes lit up. "Trixie… are you finally gettin' to go home?"

"I am," the young Trixie said proudly. "My father is picking me up at the front gate."

Apple Bloom looked over Trixie's shoulder and smiled. "Actually, I think they're gonna do ya one better…"

The door to the common room burst open, and in scampered a tiny filly, so bundled up against the cold weather, in clothes far too big for her, that her legs and face were scarcely visible. Only an excited pair of magenta eyes could be seen, peering out from behind her tightly-bundled scarf and hood.

The present-day Trixie's jaw dropped as the filly scurried past her and into the embrace of her younger self. "Big sister!" the tiny filly squealed.

"Oh, is it really you?" the young Trixie breathed, reaching out with a pale pink magic aura to uncover the filly's face. Lowering the little one's hood revealed a wild electric-blue mane—attempts had been made to tame it, but it simply could not be done.

"Vinyl," the adult Trixie wailed in quiet anguish.

"Oh, Vinyl," her young double cooed. "Look how big you've gotten."

"I'm here to take you home, big sister," little Vinyl Scratch peeped. "Father is waiting for us. I think he'll be very happy to see you. He's so much nicer than he used to be. Come along!"

Trixie laughed and lifted her trunk, levitating it over her head as she trotted out into the halls of the great school, Vinyl hopping along happily at her side. Trixie couldn't stop smiling, nor take her eyes off her little sister as they walked side by side. She was surprised, then, to realize that a stern-faced mare was standing in her path, draped in an elegant purple robe.

"Oh!" Trixie said in alarm. "Ms. Harshwhinny…"

"Yes, hello Miss Trixie," the schoolmaster said in a clipped tone. "It has come to my attention that you'll be leaving this fine institution for good."

"Yes, Headmistress," Trixie said meekly.

"Marvelous," she said briskly. "You're an exceptional student, Miss Trixie. You immerse yourself fully in your studies, taking no time for friends or other frivolous pursuits. That trait will suit you well in the real world. I've taken the liberty of recommending you as an apprentice to a number of business owners I know in Canterlot."

"Oh my," said Trixie in surprise. "Thank you, ma'am, for taking the trouble…"

"Oh, no trouble at all," said Ms. Harshwhinny. "The world needs more ponies like you and I. Your attitude will take you far in life."

"…Thank you," Trixie said quietly.

"Off with you, then. Enjoy your brief holiday. I daresay it will be only a matter of days before you are contacted for apprenticeship."

The adult Trixie and Nightmare Moon watched the teenaged filly and her little sister walk off into the distance.

"Sometimes, I wish Ms. Harshwhinny had never made those recommendations," Trixie remarked. "I thought at the time that this day would mean a reconciliation with our father, a chance to see my sister every day. It was not so. After a few short days, I was apprenticed, and since then, I've never left Canterlot. I never saw Vinyl again."

"Indeed," Nightmare Moon whispered. "You never got to see her grow into a mare. Though I do believe she managed to bear foals before her untimely death, correct?"

"Just one foal," Trixie corrected. "My niece, Cadance, is all that remains of my sister."

"Your niece," Nightmare Moon repeated. "Your sister's daughter, your one and only remnant of your family. The one whom you invited to go to hell."

Trixie flinched. At that very moment, her younger self was fading from sight, and in a moment, the school hall had been replaced by the snowy streets of Canterlot. It was dark, but Hearth's Warming Eve lanterns were set up everywhere, bathing the street in red and gold light.

Nightmare Moon led Trixie to a warehouse, one which was normally very plain and nondescript but this evening was covered in an almost absurd amount of tinsel, wreaths, and ornaments, placed in a gleefully haphazard array.

"Do you know this place?" Nightmare Moon inquired.

Trixie laughed. "Ah, this is where I was apprenticed. Oh, what good times await me beyond this door?"

Ghostlike, she walked right through the closed door, and into the expansive warehouse within, Nightmare Moon watching her carefully.

All over the warehouse, boxes of goods were being transported in and out on the backs of strong earth pony stallions, while pegasi flew back and forth carrying smaller parcels, aided by unicorns wrapping packages with their magic.

One pegasus in particular, a young mare, was flying around the factory at breathtaking speed, covering twice as much ground as any of the other workers, leaving a rainbow-colored trail behind her everywhere she went.

"Could that be…?" Trixie laughed. "It is! It's Rainbow Dash. Oh, what a character she was! And she worshipped me."

Rainbow stopped to hover over one of the unicorn workers, a blue mare with a silvery mane.

"Oh my," Trixie said gleefully. "I don't recall Rainbow Dash looking so young, let me… ha!"

Trixie looked into her other self's youthful face, examining it carefully and chuckling lightly as she touched the lines on her own face. "Well, hello, beautiful. Aren't you a cherry bomb? You feel so grown-up, don't you? Ah, but you're still just a child…"

The warehouse went still and quiet all of a sudden as a door opened. Two stern-faced pegasi walked in, and between them stood a third pegasus, older and sinisterly hunched, her face hidden in shadow.

"Greetings, employees," this pegasus said coldly. "Tonight, as I'm sure you're aware, is Hearth's Warming Eve. You may think this means you get a short break from your back-breaking labor; well, you're wrong. All you get is… THE NIGHT OFF!"

She stepped out into the open, revealing a widely smiling face and a pair of golden eyes which were skewed in two different directions.

"_You_ get the night off! And _you_ get the night off!" she shouted, waving her arms around wildly. "_Everypony gets the night oooooooooff!_ Those of you with homes to go to—go! Run! Don't lose a single second with your loved ones! The rest of you, prepare yourselves for the finest Hearth's Warming celebration in all of Canterlot! Trixie, Rainbow Dash—clear up all this warehousey stuff and start setting up the PARTY!"

"You bet, Miss Derpy!" said Rainbow, hovering up into the air and saluting. She and the young Trixie darted off in different directions.

The present-day Trixie laughed out loud. "Well, if it isn't old Miss Derpy, back from the dead. This was one of the finest evenings of my life."

Nightmare Moon gave her a sinister, fanged smile. "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it."

The boxes were piled up in the back alley, and in their stead, Rainbow hung strings of lights around the warehouse's rafters and support beams, while Trixie magically set up all the holiday trees and their ornaments.

The two pegasi who had been flanking Derpy opened the warehouse doors wide, and over the course of the next hour, as Rainbow and Trixie swept and then mopped the floors, ponies started filing in, ponies of all sorts and all ages, from all walks of life.

A band was set up, consisting of a piano, harp, and sousaphone, and the center of the warehouse was roped off into a dance floor, though it remained empty as ponies instead lingered around the edges of the huge room, socializing and gathering food from the buffet table, enjoying cakes and pies and great frothy tankards of beer.

Derpy flittered around the party, deceptively spry for her age, swooping down on a very tall and thin white unicorn. "Hellooooo, Miss Fleur!" she said wildly, hitting the floor and skidding past her target.

"My greetings, Miss Derpy," the beautiful mare replied, draping her body across a blond stallion with a mustache and goatee. "I received your package. Right on time, as usual. Your service is masterful."

"Aw, shucks, thank you," said Derpy, blushing red. "Say, have you met my husband?" She scooped a plain brown stallion out from the crowd. "Honey, this is Fleur, one of our clients. Fleur, I'd like you to meet my husband, the Doctor."

"The Doctor?" Fleur said with interest. "Doctor—?"

"Don't," Derpy's husband interrupted, amused. "Don't even. It's just 'the Doctor'."

"Ah," said Fleur. "Well, I can certainly understand that. My own companion, after all, is known simply as 'the Dude'."

The Doctor chuckled and held out his hoof to shake. "Well, smashing to meet you. The Dude, is it?"

"Yeah," said the stallion, wrapping one arm around Fleur and shaking the Doctor's hoof with the other. "The Dude, or Duder, His Dudeness, El Duderino, you know, whatever you wanna call me."

Derpy giggled. "How funny. Well, that's enough of this music. Cheese!"

A stallion zipped out of the crowd and appeared at her side as if by magic. He had an orange coat and a wildly curly brown mane, and was dressed in a much-used shirt with a high collar, gray with numerous patches.

"Go up there and get this done right for us!" Derpy instructed.

"You got it, Aunt Derpy!" he chirped, and he zipped over to the stage, waved an arm to silence the band, and stood on his hind legs to properly grasp an accordion he had somehow acquired somewhere between Derpy and the stage. The crowd paused briefly, their attention caught by the cease in the music.

"Hey, everypony!" the young stallion exclaimed loudly. "Would you like to polka?"

_Hey now, you better listen to me every one of you  
><em>_We got a lotta lotta lotta lotta work to do  
><em>_Forget about your women and that water can  
><em>_Today we're working for the man_

On that last word, he launched into a polka interlude, and the rest of the band backed him up. Satisfied and more than a little entertained, the partygoers went back to their meals and conversations, and several of them flocked to the dance floor, including Derpy and the Doctor, who engaged in a very fancy and elaborate dance together, involving deft movement of the hind hooves flailing around seemingly independent of the ponies' bodies, and an elaborate toss, leaving Derpy to swoop and spin in the air before daintily drifting back down into the Doctor's arms like a falling leaf.

_Is it in his face? Oh no, it's just his charms  
><em>_In his one embrace? Oh no, that's just his arms  
><em>_If you wanna know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss  
><em>_That's where it is, oh oh, oh oh_

Just as the crowd was ready to start applauding the impressive dance, a pegasus mare with a shocking pink-and-green striped mane stepped onto the floor and started breakdancing, spinning on her head and gyrating across the floor. The partygoers whooped and cheered, fired up, as Cheese's polka medley of nostalgically familiar songs continued.

_Life could be a dream, sh-boom if I could take you up in paradise up above  
><em>_Sh-boom if you would tell me I'm the only one that you love  
><em>_Life could be a dream, sweetheart hello hello again  
><em>_Sh-boom and hopin' we meet again boom a_

"Trixie!"

The young Trixie managed to tear her eyes away from the handsome singer and turned her head toward Rainbow Dash, who was flying out of the crowd, escorting a familiar, though much younger, sleepy-eyed griffon.

"Trixie, have you met Gilda?" Rainbow said. "An old friend of mine from the Filly Scouts. She works for Prim Hemline."

"Ah, Merry Hearth's Warming Eve to you," Trixie said amiably, extending a hoof.

"You too," the griffon replied, shaking it with her talon.

"So, Prim, eh?" said Trixie, scanning the party for the tall, stern-faced mare. "How do you like working for her?"

"Oh, she's sharp, she's real sharp," Gilda drawled. "Real ruthless and savvy businesspony."

Trixie spotted her; apparently, she had struck a conversation with Fleur and the Dude.

_I'm walkin' in the rain  
><em>_Tears are fallin' and I feel the pain  
><em>_Wishin' you were here by me  
><em>_To end this misery  
><em>_And I wonder, I wa-wa-wa-wa-wonder  
><em>_Why, wa-wa-wa-wa-why she ran away  
><em>_And I wonder where she will stay  
><em>_My little runaway, my run-run-run-run-runaway_

"How about Derpy?" Gilda continued. "She good?"

"Mmm, she's a marvelous employer," Trixie said enthusiastically. "It's like… I can't quite explain, but it's rather like we're not just her staff, we're also her friends. That kind of energy is quite the environment in which to work. She has the power to change the atmosphere of the workplace, and she chooses to make it happy at all times. Wonderful to be here, truly."

The older Trixie, standing a few feet behind them with Nightmare Moon at her side, looked taken aback. "Did _I _say that?" she demanded.

"So it would appear," Nightmare Moon replied with interest.

Trixie sighed, and the spirit looked down at her.

"Something you'd like to share, Trixie?"

"It's just… I wish I could take this moment to say a few words to Twilight Sparkle and those diamond dog boys," Trixie muttered.

_Hey baby, jump over here  
><em>_When you do the ooby dooby, I wanna be near  
><em>_Ooby dooby  
><em>_Ooby dooby  
><em>_Ooby dooby ooby dooby ooby dooby ooby dooby doo wa doo wa doo wa_

Derpy approached the young Trixie, looking extremely tipsy considering her deft dancing just a few moments earlier. "Trixie, are you trying to butter me up?" she teased, giving her apprentice a tight hug. "That's the thing, you know? No matter how much your business is struggling, no matter how urgently you need to get things done, if nopony likes you, what's even the point of it all? Now, Gilda…"

The old mare turned a single stern eye to Gilda (her other eye remained firmly fixed on the fizzy drink she was holding). "Now, Gilda, your employer and I don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, which is why I don't mind telling her she could stand to loosen up a little."

"Oh, I don't know," Gilda said with a smirk. "Sounds like you're not too good at cracking down on actual business around here."

"Well, I could point out that regardless of how much fun we're having, the job gets done," Trixie said slyly.

"It does indeed!" Derpy beamed. "Well said, my girl. Has Prim _ever_ received a late shipment from me?"

Gilda shrugged. "Apparently not."

_Oh oh, oh oh, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to  
><em>_Cry if I want to, cry if I want to  
><em>_You would cry too if it happened to you_

Derpy melted back into the crowd for some further mingling. The present-day Trixie smiled at her back as she watched her go. "A very powerful figure in my life was old Miss Derpy…"

"And yet I can't help but notice you took your schoolmaster's advice over hers," Nightmare Moon observed.

Trixie flinched, the spirit's remarks having once more hit her far too close to home. "Well, Headmistress Harshwhiny's advice was all I had left after… after…" Her eyes drifted toward the stage.

_When I want you in my arms  
><em>_When I want you and all your charms  
><em>_Whenever I want you all I have to do is dre-e-e-e-eam  
><em>_Dream dream dre-eam dre-e-e-e-eam  
><em>_Dream dream dream  
><em>_Whenever I want you all I have to do is dream_

The polka quickly increased in tempo at that moment, catching the attention of the younger Trixie, who looked up at the stage. The accordionist made eye contact with her… and did not break it even once throughout the next song on the medley.

_Don't know much about history  
><em>_Don't know much biology  
><em>_Don't know much about a science book  
><em>_Don't know much about the French I took  
><em>_But I do know that I love you  
><em>_And I know that if you loved me too  
><em>_What a wonderful world this would be_

The polka finished in an explosion of sound and showers of confetti. The moment the last note was played, the curly-haired stallion zipped off the stage and joined Derpy on the dance floor. In short order, the band finished waving and nodding to the cheering party guests and began playing a slow and gentle waltz.

"That was amazing, my boy!" Derpy chirped. "You always make me so proud. Trixie, you remember Cheese Sandwich, don't you?"

"Of course I do," the young apprentice laughed. "Fantastic polka, as always."

"Ah, it was nothing, Miss Trixie," Cheese said modestly. He offered his hoof to her. "So, how about a waltz?"

She smiled. "Not nearly as much fun as a polka, but for you… anything."

In perfect unison, they stepped onto the dance floor, seamlessly blending in with all the other waltzing couples.

Much to Trixie's disappointment, this scene quickly faded, replaced by a moment much later that night, where the few apprentices who had remained behind for the party were settling into their bunks.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash?" said Trixie, lying flat on her back and speaking to the bunk above hers.

Rainbow's upside-down head quickly dipped over the edge of the top bunk. "Yeah, Trix?"

"Thank you so much for introducing me to Gilda. As it turns out, she and I have a lot in common—including a few small business ideas. We might go together in an investment of some sort."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Trixie, come on, who cares about business deals you're making with Gilda? Let's talk about you with Miss Derpy's nephew, huh?" She winked and grinned mischievously.

Trixie blushed deeply. "Oh, please, what's to tell? Everypony knows I've always been… _fond_ of Mr. Cheese. What more do you need to know?"

Another apprentice burst out laughing from across the room. "That's right," she said deviously. "While Trixie's going into a new business, Cheese is getting all up in _her_ business. Her lady-business!"

"Stick a sock in it, Lightning Dust!" said Rainbow, wadding up a piece of parchment and tossing it at the other; it bounced off of her head, leaving Lightning Dust unharmed but indignant. "You're just jealous that life is giving Trixie the big piece of the pie."

Trixie laughed. "Things do look like they're going well, Rainbow Dash. Very well indeed."

Nightmare Moon looked up, seemingly at the ceiling. "Really?" she asked. "No, no… we've got time."

"What was that?" the present-day Trixie asked cautiously.

"Not talking to you," Nightmare Moon said casually. The scene dissolved and was once again replaced by another.

It was a small, square park in the middle of the city. The ground was covered in a layer of snow, and more flakes were falling, thick and heavy.

Cheese stood in the center of the park, wearing an impeccably nice suit, black and shiny, beneath his winter coat. Trixie stood at his side, wearing a black dress and a veil that covered her face; she was using her magic to absent-mindedly shred the veil.

"Well…" Cheese was saying, slowly and sadly. "I guess _some_ good came from this particular Hearth's Warming Eve… got you walking around in the light of day for once."

The young Trixie frowned deeply. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing. I just know there are other things you would rather have been doing than coming out to mourn with me."

She glared at him. "Cheese, if you have something to say to me, say it. You know _why_ I work so hard, don't you?" She waved an arm, gesturing to the snowy city. "I have no desire to end up homeless in the wintry streets, to starve to death in a ditch somewhere without even a name for my headstone. Poverty is such a dreadful thing, everypony knows this, so why do we condemn those who try their absolute hardest to avoid it?"

"I don't condemn you," Cheese said quietly. "I think you've just forgotten your intent. You were supposed to be building a life for _us_. That's why we've been working so hard, but you… you've lost sight of anything else but work. We're gotten to where we needed to be, but you're still _going_. You're…" He swallowed hard, fearfully. "You're like maniac. You scare me, Trixie."

Trixie's lip thinned sternly. "I just want us to have a life together. I only thought that the better I could make that life… Well, you know I'm doing it all for you." He didn't respond, and her eyes widened. "You _know_ that, don't you?"

He remained silent and contemplative for a few moments. "No," he admitted. "No, I don't know that."

Trixie stared back at him, struck mute.

"We said we'd get married when we were financially secure," Cheese continued. "And now that we've achieved that, I can see that going after that goal changed what you really want out of life. So… I've gotta do the right thing. I'm gonna go ahead and break off our engagement."

Trixie fumed, appalled. "Did I _ask_ you to break off our engagement?"

Cheese suddenly looked fierce, shooting her a glare with intensity enough to match her own. "You and me. If we had just met, you where you are, and me where I am, would you still want me? Would Trixie the business baroness in her fancy new mansion ever wish to win the affection of poor but happy Cheese Sandwich?"

They continued to simply stare daggers at each other, ignoring the snow stinging their faces.

"Well?" Cheese demanded.

"I'm thinking," Trixie growled through gritted teeth.

Cheese sighed. "If you have to think about it… that's all I need to know. You're not the same mare I proposed to all those Hearth's Warming Eves ago. You want to marry me now because you're obligated to. I'm taking away that obligation. You're off the hook."

"This isn't what I want," Trixie said dangerously.

"Well, I hope you find what you do want," Cheese replied, remaining peaceful and calm. "I just know that I'm not a part of that picture. So… I'm going. Good luck, and goodbye." He turned and started trudging away through the snow, before halting and giving her a sidelong look over his shoulder. "I love you, Trixie."

Seconds later, he was gone. Trixie stared in his direction, still and expressionless, doing nothing but slowly blinking the snow out of her eyes.

The elder Trixie stepped forward to look her younger self in the face, the aged and lined nightgown-clad pony meeting the eye of the youthful mourner who could not see her.

"Why didn't you go after him?" the elder Trixie muttered softly. "Why?" Her lip trembled, and she shut her eyes tight but wasn't able to stop the torrent of tears from escaping. "I hate you," she informed her younger self in a barely-audible rasp. "Oh, how I hate you!"

Oblivious to her future self's agony, the young Trixie hung her head and wandered away. The one who remained continued shaking and quivering with sobs.

"Well!" Nightmare Moon remarked dryly after a few moments. "That's quite a punch to the gut, isn't it? No wonder you hate Hearth's Warming Eve so much. Lost your favorite mentor _and_ her delightful catch of a nephew on the same day. That's got to sting…"

Trixie stared up at the spirit with tired, pained eyes. "D-don't mock me, Nightmare Moon. Please?"

Nightmare Moon stared back at her serenely.

"I… I… I've seen enough," Trixie stammered, swallowing hard. "Can we end this journey now?"

Nightmare Moon's eyes slowly closed, stayed that way for several seconds, then just as slowly opened again. "I think there's one more Hearth's Warming Eve you need to see. One that… _could_ have been yours."

Trixie went pale. "No," she pleaded, as the scene started changing. "No!"

She tried to close her eyes and ignore it, but found she couldn't hold back her morbid curiosity and took a peek. Her eyes opened completely at the confused realization that she was still in the very same park.

Near her was an attractive earth pony mare, cream-colored with a well-kept minty-blue mane, and Nightmare Moon motioned for Trixie to take notice of this pony.

The mare was playing with two little twins: one a pegasus, one a unicorn, but moving as if one mind, zipping in circles around their enthusiastic mother before breaking out in hysterical giggles and rushing off to play in the snow, while the mare looked on with a smile.

"What is this? Who is she?" Trixie asked.

"Just… take careful heed," Nightmare Moon said simply.

Trixie did so, trying to notice some feature of the mare that would clue her in as to why this stranger was the subject of the scene. All she managed to conclude was that the mare was beginning to show signs of age with lines on her face very much like Trixie's own, but less pronounced.

Trixie managed to piece the answer together a few moments later as a taxicarriage pulled up to the park and its passenger stepped out, looking for all the world like the happiest pony on earth, and giving himself all the fanfare of a debutante. It was Cheese, his clothes as used and faded as ever, and with a face to match, handsomely marked with laugh lines and crow's feet.

"DADDY!" the twin foals shrieked, taking huge flying leaps at him and grasping him around the neck.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" he laughed, nuzzling them with his face. "Where'd you little pests come from?"

"Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, don't jump on Daddy," the cream-colored mare said gently.

"Or _do_," Cheese said mischievously, "because Daddy brought Hearth's Warming Eve presents for you!" Seemingly from nowhere, he produced two wrapped presents, and the two babies snatched them and zipped back into the park, yelling "WHEEEEEE!"

With surprisingly-developed wing speed and magic, they tore open their presents and began playing. Pound Cake's toy was a fantastic mythical flying machine made of wood, complete with propellers that spun when the toy was pushed through the air; Pound quickly began flying all over the park with the machine held over his head. Pumpkin Cake had received a plush doll of a white-furred, blond-maned unicorn princess, and hugged it tightly, rocking it back and forth.

Cheese let out a laugh at the children's joy. "Hey there, Coco," he finally said to his wife, giving her a kiss.

"Mmm," she replied sweetly. "Merry Hearth's Warming Eve, sweetheart."

The two of them walked along the edges of the park, keeping an eye on their children as they frolicked with other little foals in the park.

"Darling, you'll never guess who I ran into today," Coco said conversationally.

Cheese thought for a moment. "You're probably right," he finally said. "Why don't you just tell me?"

Coco giggled, then looked nervous, and spoke carefully. "It… it was your old friend, Trixie."

Cheese was silent and expressionless for a long moment. "Yeah?" he finally said. "How's she doing?"

"Mm, she's seen better days," Coco said grimly. "Her business partner has fallen terribly ill, so I hear. She may be on her deathbed this very night."

"Oh," Cheese said sadly. "Poor Gilda… poor Trixie. I don't know if she still knows anypony else from our old lives… or anypony at all. Gilda was all she had." He hung his head. "She must be so alone."

"Darling…" said Coco, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I know you still carry feelings of guilt, but… she isn't your responsibility."

Cheese solemnly raised his head upright once again. "No," he agreed gravely. "No, she isn't. She's independent enough that she can seek her own happiness… or not."

The scene faded away into darkness. Nightmare Moon and Trixie were now nowhere at all, just two strangely well-lit figures in a void of blackness and falling snow.

"I want to go home, Nightmare Moon," Trixie said shakily.

Nightmare Moon smirked. "_Can_ you go home again after all you've seen?"

Trixie let out a sobbing gasp. "Why have you done this to me? What is the gain?"

"Why have _I_?" Nightmare Moon demanded, her eyes flaring angrily with white light and energy surging from her flowing, shapeless mane. "All I've shown you are scenes from your life, things which have already passed, _exactly_ as they really happened. Do… not… blame… _me_." She leaned forward and lightning flashed, revealing that they were standing not in nothingness but among a sea of swirling, rolling clouds.

"Torment me no longer!" Trixie cried desperately, blasting Nightmare Moon in the chest with a beam of magic.

Nightmare Moon glanced interestedly at the scorch mark on her breastplate. "You know," she said wryly, "if you're going to keep doing that to _every_ spirit you come across, it's going to be a _very_ long night for you."

Her fanged mouth opened wide as if to swallow Trixie's head whole.

Abruptly, Trixie woke up in her bed, surrounded on all sides by her bed-curtains, completely blocking her from perceiving anything outside that small space. As she lie there flat on her back, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat, she heard a clock chime to mark a quarter past the hour.

"A dream…" she said frantically. "Of course. It was all a dream."

In moments, she had fallen back to sleep, not conscious of the deep rumbling laughter echoing just outside.


End file.
